2006 National Book Award Finalist
Young People's Literature

Martine Leavitt

Keturah and Lord Death

About
the Book

Renowned
for her storytelling, Keturah charms Lord Death
with a story and is given another 24 hours to
live—if she can find her one true love in
that time.

About the Author

Martine Leavitt
is the author of Tom Finder (2003), winner
of the Mr. Christie Award, and Heck Superhero
(2004), a finalist for the Governor General's
Award. She has a BA from the University of Calgary
and an MFA from Vermont College and works full
time as a copy editor in the corporate sector.
The creative project she is most proud of is her
seven children and six grandchildren, all of whom
have been critically acclaimed.

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Excerpt

He was dressed in a
black cape and came mounted on a black stallion.
Beneath his hood I could see that he was a goodly
man, severe but beautiful, not old but in the
time of his greatest powers. My courage failed
me. I wanted to escape, but I was too weak to
stand. My limbs seemed rooted in the ground beneath
me. The tree I leaned against cradled my shoulders.

I remembered the good
manners Grandmother had taught me with her switch
and paddle. When he had dismounted and was coming
toward me I said, "Good Sir Death, forgive
me if I do not rise."

His steps slowed. "You
know who I am, then?"

"I do, sir."

The dusk deepened, as
if the gloom unfurled from the folds of his cloak.

"Is it Keturah?"
he asked. His voice was calm and cold, and thrilled
me with fear. "You are the daughter of Catherine
Reeve, whom I know."

"Yes, sir."
He knew my mother indeed, but I did not. She had
died giving birth to me. "I regret to say,
sir, that, as in the case of my mother, you have
come before I was ready."

"No one is ready."

"Forgive me, sir,"
I said, without hope, "but there was something
I wanted to do."

"Your doing is past."
He hunkered down on one knee as if to get a good
look at me. I saw that where his boot had been,
the grass was utterly crushed and flattened. "You
were foolish to come so far into the wood."